


The Power of Injuries

by nychus



Series: IgNoct Week 2018 [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Day 4, Ignoct Week, Ignoct Week 2018, Injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-16 00:33:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13624764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nychus/pseuds/nychus
Summary: Ignis gets hurt while protecting the prince and Noctis has to deal with the emotions that brings.





	The Power of Injuries

**Author's Note:**

> IgNoct Week 2018: Day 4 Simple Prompt Injury

Everything happened so fast. One moment, Noctis was looking at his phone, trying to figure out where the store he wanted to go to was and the next he was on the ground. It took him some time to register the screams all around him as he tried to blink away the confusion. Eventually, he noticed he was not the only one on the ground; there was a man, maybe thirty feet away who had also dropped. He was bloody though.

“Highness, are you alright?” Ignis’s voice came from above. Noctis glanced up to see his adviser looking down at him with concern.

“Yeah, what…what the hell just happened?”

There was no answer. Noctis initially took that to mean Ignis was still worried about any other attackers, but suddenly the full weight of the man standing over him collapsed onto the prince. Startled, Noctis quickly adjusted himself to see what was wrong, only to find Ignis unconscious with a knife sticking out of his abdomen.

“Ignis? IGNIS!” Noctis cried, shaking the man. There was a lot of blood coming from the knife wound and Noctis immediately wanted to pull the damn thing out, get the offensive object away from his friend. But Noctis knew better, no matter how much he wanted, he knew that pulling the knife would only make it worse and it was already pretty bad. He didn’t know what else to do, though. He was afraid if he put pressure on the wound, the knife would do more damage internally. Instead, Noctis cradled Ignis’s head in his lap and waited.

~*~*~*~*~

Not too far away from where Noctis and Ignis were walking, the security detail at the Citadel was working hard like normal. The team set up to monitor social media was quickly pinged that someone was talking about Prince Noctis. The woman who saw it first pulled up a livestream of some girl in an open air shopping center.

“Guys, can you believe it? Prince Noctis is out shopping where I shop!” followed by high-pitched squeals.

“That’s the Fashonista,” another team member said, getting a few raised eyebrows from his colleagues. “My daughter loves her. She usually blogs, but sometimes she’ll do live stuff where she’ll point out the newest fashions.”

“Who is that gorgeous man with him?” someone off screen asked. There was a quick zoom in of Noctis and Ignis and then “He can follow me around any day.”

There were a few chuckles among the team, but everyone moved back to their own work. The initial finder of the stream would watch until she was sure the prince was safe, even if it meant hearing the prattle of a couple of fashion-forward girls. Watching, she noticed the shift in Ignis’s demeanor. Though Noctis was staring at his phone, Ignis had tensed and was looking around the area as if waiting for something to happen. The video started to move away from the two, but not before she saw someone move quickly towards the prince. She couldn’t see what happened, but a second later there were screams and the feed died.

“Someone call Cor,” she yelled. “I think the prince has been attacked!”

The room went silent, everyone stared at one another, surely that wasn’t true. But then pings started coming in. Status updates of ‘in Paramina Square someone attacked the prince!” in some variation or another. The call was made and maybe a minute after the video feed went dead the Citadel was sending out its best.

The people in the room kept watching as update after update flooded social media, hoping to hear something to calm their nerves. Finally, a picture was uploaded that showed a distraught prince holding the seemingly lifeless body of his adviser as if it was the only thing in the world.

~*~*~*~*~

Noctis’s world had narrowed down to Ignis. Nothing mattered but the man in his lap. He was breathing, he was alive, and Noctis intended to keep it that way. He had no idea what was going on around them. He didn’t notice the crowds forming or the pictures being taken or even the blaring sirens coming ever closer. He only knew that Ignis was hurt and that there was nothing he could do about it.

When someone finally came up to them and gently touched Noctis on the shoulder, the prince screamed at them to go away and curled further over Ignis. It took a moment before Noctis realized that the person trying to get his attention was Cor.

“They need to get him to the hospital, highness,” Cor said and it was the first thing Noctis registered.

“He was stabbed,” was all Noctis said, tears falling freely down his cheeks.

“I know and you want to help him, right?” That earned a teary nod. “Then you need to let the EMTs do their job. He’ll be in good hands.”

It was only then that Noctis was coaxed up and away from Ignis. The team worked quickly to get Ignis on a gurney and off to an ambulance, which Noctis insisted he ride in. There was no arguing with the upset teen and in the end they decided it was a pointless fight when they needed to get Ignis into surgery as quickly as possible.

Detaching Noctis from Ignis’s side proved difficult once they got to the medical wing of the Citadel. Noctis was adamant that he stay with his adviser and no one could convince him that it was better for them to go separate ways to give Ignis the best care. It wasn’t until Regis was pulling Noctis away did the doctors manage to get Ignis into surgery. Noctis wrapped his arms around his father and cried. Regis did the best he could to console the prince, but it truly seemed impossible.

Noctis didn’t calm down as much as he went into a catatonic state. He answered any question the doctors asked with one word. Usually that word was ‘no’ as Noctis didn’t sustain any injury during the attack, all thanks to Ignis.

~*~*~*~*~

When Ignis woke, he felt sore and his eyes seemed less focused than usual, even without the glasses. He blinked a few times before the room came into enough focus that he realized he was lying in a hospital bed. Something shifted on his right and he turned to see Noctis fast asleep. He was sitting in a chair, but had leaned up to the bed where one hand held fast to Ignis’s. Ignis smiled, taking this to mean that Noctis truly wasn’t injured in the attack.

Looking around the rest of the room, he noticed his uncle fast asleep on the couch and he could see there were guards outside his door. He knew he was in the Citadel, but enough people came through the medical wing the he supposed it was necessary to keep a guard anywhere the prince was.

Before he could decide what his next move should be (go back to sleep? Wake Noctis?) the door to his room opened and a nurse walked in. She smiled when she saw he was awake.

As she checked him over, she quietly asked questions to be sure he was aware, and of course Ignis answered every question correctly. He was very aware of what happened and was happy to know it was around three in the morning the following day, he’d barely been out for more than twelve hours. The nurse told him she would be back shortly with the doctor for a more thorough examination and she disappeared out the door.

Ignis’s uncle had woken when the nurse had greeted Ignis, so he came over once she was finished.

“Uncle,” Ignis greeted.

“Oh, Ignis, how miraculous you are,” Stupeo said, pulling up a seat.

“I hardly see how protecting Noctis is miraculous,” Ignis said with a frown. “It is my duty to protect him.”

“Yes, but you’d be surprised at how many soldiers end up cowering when a real life situation happens,” he said. That caused Ignis’s frown to increase. “You didn’t hesitate to put yourself between Noctis and the assailant and that makes you miraculous.”

“What came of the attacker?” Ignis asked. It had all happened so quickly that he had no idea if he killed the man or not.

“Last I knew he was in surgery, but that was hours ago.”

Ignis made a noise at that, not sure how he felt. The man had tried to attack Noctis, should they really try to save him? But then Ignis wasn’t keen on taking another’s life. He sighed and looked at the sleeping prince, completely unsurprised that he hadn’t stirred.

“Wake him,” his uncle said. “He’s been beyond worried about you. It took King Regis himself to pry him from you so they could get you into the operating room. I’ll go see about getting you something to drink.”

Once Stupeo was out of the room, Ignis gave his right hand, the one Noctis was clinging to, a little shake. Almost instantly the prince roused, blinked a few times, and then looked up towards Ignis’s face.

“Hey,” Ignis said with a tired smile. He was already wanted to return to sleep.

“Ignis,” Noctis whispered as if in disbelief. He then made a quick movement, as if he wanted to jump up and hug him, but thought better of it. Instead he brought Ignis’s hand to his face and nuzzled it. Ignis smiled. It was the same thing he had done with Noctis after the attack. Hugs were painful, but a small nuzzle of the hand was just as good at conveying the same sentiment.

“You are well?” Ignis asked.

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

“I’m glad.”

The doctor was in a moment later and was telling Ignis the damage. Nothing serious was cut with the knife, but multiple things caused a lot of bleeding and the need of a lot of sewing up in surgery. The doctor said she was surprised to see him awake so quickly after the whole ordeal, but Ignis said he wasn’t used to so much downtime. That earned him a stern look from the doctor, and she told him that he would have to take it extremely easy for at least a month to allow everything to heal. “At least” she made sure to emphasize. They wanted to keep him in the hospital for a few days, monitor his condition and be sure nothing got infected or any stitches got pulled. Finally, after telling him the different medications he was on and what they did, she left with the nurse and told him to get some sleep.

Ignis insisted that neither his uncle nor Noctis needed to stay with him. He was going to go back to sleep and that was all. His uncle quietly acquiesced and promised to see him later, but Noctis was a harder sell. So much so that, after a bit of rearranging, Noctis moved another bed alongside Ignis’s and crawled in, settled for the night. Ignis was sure that Noctis would have crawled into bed with him if there had been room and no chance of aggravating the wound. Two beds together, they fell asleep, Noctis refusing to let go of Ignis’s hand.

~*~*~*~*~

When Ignis next woke, the worst of the news storm had passed. King Regis had made a speech informing the public that both his son and his guardian were safe and how thankful he was to have Ignis to protect the prince as he did. The king was in Ignis’s room whenever he did wake.

“Your Majesty, you didn’t have to come see me,” Ignis said after the nurse ran some checks.

“Nonsense, Ignis,” Regis smiled. “Beyond the fact you protected Noctis, you are family. I wish I could stay longer, but life as a monarch.”

Ignis returned the smile. “Indeed. Thank you for coming.”

Later, during official visiting hours, Gladio and Prompto came over. Gladio was full of frowns, saying that it should have been him that got hurt. He was the shield after all, not Ignis. Ignis just rolled his eyes and reminded Gladio that not only was he not with them at the time, but also that Ignis was just as responsible for Noctis’s wellbeing. That calmed Gladio a bit, but Ignis could tell it still bothered him.

Prompto pulled up the picture that had been circulating the media as the ‘official’ image of the whole ordeal. It was of Noctis holding Ignis in his lap, tears clearly flowing, with the adviser looking very bloodied and possibly dead.

Noctis wasn’t particularly fond of the image, but something about it tugged at Ignis’s heart. Perhaps it was the way that Noctis was staring at him; all that care in his eyes. Ignis never doubted that he meant a great deal to Noctis, the prince wasn’t particularly great at showing appreciation or emotions, but now he had photographic proof.

If only it didn’t have to come in such a terrible way.

~*~*~*~*~

After three days in the hospital, Ignis was allowed to go home, under the condition that he take it easy. The most strenuous thing he was supposed to do was move between wheelchair and another sitting place. As someone who didn’t sit still well, that was hard task, but he managed.

Noctis was insistent at staying with Ignis while he healed. Anytime Noctis wasn’t otherwise busy, he was doing what he could to help his adviser. It was a bit much, if only because the prince wasn’t proficient in anything domestic. It took all of Ignis’s patience to deal with him and even enlisted Prompto to pull him away to go to the arcade.

One day, Ignis was sitting on the couch working on some reports while Noctis folded some clothes. The prince was getting frustrated with certain items not creasing correctly and after the fiftieth sigh, Ignis couldn’t take it anymore.

“Noct?”

“Yeah?”

“Please stop.” Noctis looked at Ignis. “Please. I cannot concentrate with you fighting with my clothing like that.”

“But…”

“No buts. Come, sit, relax.” Ignis nodded towards the armchair next to him. After a moment, Noctis complied and joined Ignis in the living area. “Talk to me, Noctis. What is bothering you?”

The look Ignis got in return was one of such incredulity. How could he not know what is wrong? “Ignis, you almost died. For me. I don’t want that.”

“Noct,” Ignis gave an understanding sigh, “you do realize that I am sworn to give my life for you. It was the oath I took when I officially became a member of your Crownsguard.”

“I know,” Noctis said quietly.

“Even if I wasn’t in your guard, I would have done the same.”

“No!” Noctis said. “No! I don’t want you to! I don’t want you or anyone to die for me!”

Ignis studied him for a moment and then said, “What if things were reversed?”

“How do you mean?”

“What if I was the one looking at my phone, trying to determine our destination and you saw someone run towards us with a knife. What would you do?”

“I’d protect you.” The words came out so quickly but they didn’t register until after he had said them. It suddenly dawned on him what Ignis was getting at. “Oh.”

“I don’t protect you because you are the prince; I do it because I love you and I would do anything to keep you happy and safe and alive.”

For the briefest of moments, Noctis stared at Ignis and then he was suddenly leaning forward, pressing his lips against the other. Ignis was completely shocked by this turn in events and didn’t have the wherewithal to respond; he was now staring dumbly.

Noctis pulled back, realized what he had done, and bolted. He said nothing as he ran and Ignis was still so stunned that he had nothing to say.

~*~*~*~*~

“Dude, what’s wrong?”

“I kissed Ignis.”

Silence.

Not knowing where else to go, Noctis had run to Prompto’s and banged on the door until the blonde let him in. He was breathing hard, both from the run and from his sheer stupidity. Prompto just stared at him as Noctis went to the couch and flung himself face first on to it.

“Okay, what?” Prompto asked once his mind kick started again. He came over and sat on the floor next to Noctis.

“I kissed him. KISSED him, Prompto! He said he loved me and I just went for it and OF COURSE he means in a platonic or brotherly way and my dumb ass kissed him and everything is ruined and UGH!” His words got faster and more jumbled as he spoke. Prompto had to listen hard to understand anything as he was also speaking into a pillow.

“What did Ignis do?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” he turned his face to look at Prompto. “He did nothing. He said nothing and I ran.”

Prompto was chewing on his bottom lip in thought. “How long have you been crushing on Ignis?”

“What does that matter?” Noctis asked.

“Well, if it’s a new thing, then it’s probably everything getting all screwed up because of the attack. I mean, I’d probably fancy anyone who saved my life. Ignis would totally understand that.”

For a moment, Noctis was quiet before asking, “And what if it’s been longer?”

“How long?”

Another moment of silence and then, “Since I figured out what I was attracted too.”

“Really? Huh,” Prompto said, leaning back so that he was resting his back on the coffee table. “I had no idea.”

“No one does…or did.”

“I totally thought you were into girls.”

“I am,” Noctis said. “Mostly. It’s just…it’s Ignis.”

Prompto gave a knowing nod, “Yeah, it’s Ignis. So, now what?”

“I dunno.”

“You’re welcome to stay here until you figure it out,” Prompto said. “Want me to go grab some junk food and we can watch bad movies?”

“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks, Prom.”

“It’s what I’m here for!”

Prompto bounded to his feet and headed to the kitchen while Noctis remained on the couch. He was going to wallow in self misery a little while longer, but when Prompto got a phone call, he had to listen in. It was obviously Ignis and Noctis briefly wondered why he called Prompto and not him. Pulling out his phone, he realized that Ignis had called, several times and left both voice and text messages. He didn’t have the energy to deal with any of it at the moment, so he tossed his phone onto the nearby table. He expected Prompto to bring him the phone anyway.

When the blond returned, he did not hand Noctis the phone. “He just wanted to be sure you were alright,” Prompto explained.

“He didn’t want to talk to me?”

“No. I mean, he does!” Prompto quickly added seeing the look on Noctis’s face. “He does want to talk to you, but not until you’re ready.”

“Oh.”

The pair spent the rest of the afternoon watching bad action movies and eating the worst junk food imaginable. Occasionally Prompto would poke fun at Noctis for his crush, but mostly he was curious about what Noctis thought of the chances.

“Chances? There are no chances. Even less now,” the prince scowled. “One, I don’t know if he likes guys and two, he could do so much better. Besides, he probably just thinks of me as the obnoxious charge who doesn’t know how to take care of himself. He’d never want me.”

“The only way Ignis could do better than you, would be to date himself,” Prompto said. “And he clearly doesn’t think that of you, you said he said that he loved you. Love, platonic or otherwise, means you are more than him than a charge. As for liking guys? No clue, dude. But he could totally be like you, normally into girls, but completely in love with you. Oh! And don’t forget, you can still claim sudden ‘falling in love with gorgeous guy who saved me’ as a valid excuse for the kiss. Then you can go back to pining for him and being miserable until you get married off to one of those upper-class ladies you are so fond of.”

Noctis glared at Prompto. “How are you such a good friend?”

“Born this way, brah,” Prompto winked. That earned the blond a shove and they laughed before going back to the movie.

~*~*~*~*~

Ignis sighed when he hung up the phone with Prompto. At least Noctis was somewhere safe. He wished the prince was still with him in the apartment, but at least he was with someone who would watch him.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, thinking over what had happened. Noctis had kissed him. Noctis had actually kissed him. On the lips. A kiss on the lips from the prince. The very same prince who he had grown up with, looked after, and fell in love with. Was it a fluke? All those weird emotions that romance media say come up during times of crises? Or did Noctis actually mean it?

If only he hadn’t been so stunned. Why didn’t he kiss back? Why didn’t he grab hold of Noctis before he got a chance to run out? When would Noctis be back? Would he? How would he be able to be around the prince after this? It was hard enough suppressing feelings before, but now it would be nigh impossible. Ignis would forever kick himself for having the chance to taste those perfect lips only to let it run out the door.

There was no way that Ignis was going to get any more work done tonight. His mind was too preoccupied. Maybe if he closed his eyes and tried to empty his mind, things would be better. They certainly couldn’t get any worse.

Ignis was startled awake by the sound of his front door closing.

“Noctis,” Ignis said when the dark haired man came into view. Ignis sat up a little straighter and glanced at the time. It was after 20:00. He’d slept longer than he’d wanted.

“Hey,” Noctis said, sitting at the kitchen table and looking anywhere that wasn’t where Ignis was. “I, uh, thought you might need help with dinner or getting ready for bed, so I came back. I can leave if you want.”

“Please don’t,” Ignis said with no hesitation.

That earned a small smile from Noctis. He then took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry, about earlier. It was dumb. It’s just been so crazy this last week and I didn’t quite realize how hard it would be to lose you until you were almost gone. I heard the word ‘love’ and something stupid happened in my brain. We can totally just forget this ever happened.”

They looked at each other as Noctis took another deep, calming breath.

“Come here?” Ignis asked, not thinking that Noctis would. He was pleasantly surprised to have the prince comply without argument and soon they were sitting much like they were earlier in the day.

Ignis looked in Noctis’s eyes, searching for something to tell him to stop. Finding nothing, Ignis brought his hand up to cup the prince’s cheek, lightly rubbing his thumb over the soft skin. Finally, slowly, oh so slowly, Ignis pulled that face closer to his own until their lips met. The first kiss was quick, Ignis testing the waters with a kiss that Noctis didn’t have a chance to really return. He pulled back just enough to see what the reaction was. Noctis’s eyes had been closed, but when Ignis moved away, he watched them open. There was hope in those eyes and with a smile Ignis once again closed the gap between their lips.

There they sat, sharing soft, intimate kisses before Ignis’s stomach gave a loud rumble. They broke apart, chuckling.

“Hungry?” Noctis asked even as he pushed himself up from the armchair.

Ignis hummed in response. He watched as Noctis pulled a plated meal from the fridge, removed the wrapping, grimaced at the amount of vegetables, and then pop it into the microwave. “Have you already eaten?”

“Kinda binged on junk food with Prompto,” Noctis answered a bit sheepishly.

“Of course you did.” After a few bites, Ignis said, “I apologize for earlier, I was just so surprised my brain was a bit slow to react. You were gone before I could think.”

“Yeah, well,” Noctis rubbed the back of his neck, “maybe I shouldn’t have panicked so quickly.”

“Indeed, you hardly gave me a chance before you were gone,” Ignis grinned. Noctis gave a little laugh and silence fell as Ignis continued to eat. “So, love?”

If Noctis could get any redder, he’d be a tomato. With a nervous laugh, he said, “Yeah? Maybe? I dunno. I know you are my everything and it’s both amazing and terrifying to think about.”

“May I inquire how long you have thought this way?”

“I’ve been crushing on you since forever, but this last week threw things into perspective. Made me realize exactly how much you meant to me.”

Setting his plate aside, Ignis took hold of one of Noctis’s hands. “I have tried so very hard to keep all feelings for you friendly and professional. I have suppressed the desires and what-ifs for so long I’m a little afraid this is nothing more than a fever dream.”

Noctis’s mischievous grin slid across his face, “So we’ve both wanted the other but didn’t say anything?”

“It is a terrible idea,” Ignis pointed out. “There are a whole slew of reasons why we shouldn’t pursue this and that’s not including the tongues that would wag.”

“Let them talk, I don’t care,” Noctis said.

“Easy to say.”

“Ignis, stop.” The adviser looked his prince in the eyes. “Do you want this? Me and you. Do you want this?”

“Yes.” The answer came quietly, as if Ignis feared he would be struck down by admitting it.

“Then that’s all that matters,” Noctis said.

“You know it’s not that easy, Noct.”

“Oh, let me pretend,” he said, grinning again before leaning in to capture Ignis’s lips.

The rest of the evening was spent just being together. Touching in chaste, yet intimate ways. Noctis was wary of Ignis’s injuries despite Ignis’s promises that he wouldn’t break. When it came time for bed, Ignis asked the prince to stay, but only in the apartment. As much as he wanted to share his bed, Noctis could be an active sleeper and if he wasn’t, he certainly was a cuddler. Neither of those seemed good for a healing abdomen wound, but Noctis understood. He got Ignis to bed and then camped out on the bedroom floor. Ignis wanted to protest, but he knew the prince could sleep comfortably anywhere, so he allowed the argument to drop quickly.

They would figure things out in the morning. Noctis did send Prompto a text that was nothing more than a thumbs up emoji, receiving a happy chocobo in response. Tomorrow Noctis would talk with his father. He was terrified at the prospect, but Ignis was correct in saying it was better to find out his thoughts sooner rather than later; it would be awful to put so much time and effort into something only to have it ripped away.

Neither were naïve enough to think they would be allowed a happily ever after so early in life. Noctis had yet to exit his teens and there was always a possibility of a political marriage. That would be a hurdle to cross if and when they got there. For now, they would just enjoy each other.

~*~*~*~*~

Regis tried hard to pretend to be mad or annoyed, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be anything other than happy for the two. He had long suspected Noctis’s attraction and often thought Ignis had moments where he’d drop his guard just enough, so the reality was he had been waiting for something like this to happen.

Prompto was ecstatic for them.

Gladio eyed them for a moment before saying with a shrug that he’d better not catch them sharing a shower after training.

The rest of the world would learn soon enough, but for now, the only people that mattered were happy to let them be.


End file.
